Summary
This review details how the molecular circadian clock regulates a broad range of physiological processes—including cell proliferation, immune response, and metabolic homeostasis—across virtually all tissues, with disruption linked to cancer and inflammatory diseases. For lighting designers and healthcare professionals, this underscores the systemic importance of maintaining consistent light/dark exposure to support circadian alignment and reduce disease risk.
Key Findings
- Circadian clocks operate via autoregulatory transcription-translation feedback loops involving multiple transcription factors with an approximately 24-hour period.
- Circadian misalignment driven by environmental factors (including light exposure), social behaviors, and pathological conditions is implicated in cancer development and inflammatory diseases.
- The circadian clock regulates intracellular pathways spanning cell proliferation, DNA damage repair, angiogenesis, metabolic and redox homeostasis, and immune/inflammatory response.
- The authors propose 'circadian precision medicine' as a framework for leveraging clock biology in disease treatment and prevention.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews the molecular mechanisms of circadian clocks and how disruption by environmental and social factors leads to physiological misalignment and disease.
The Science of Light: Describes how light/dark cycles entrain autoregulatory transcription-translation feedback loops that govern circadian rhythm across tissues.
Author(s)
F Fagiani, D Di Marino, A Romagnoli
Publication Year
2022
Number of Citations
96
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The two‐process model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice